Andrew Gillies, Alan Van Sprang (3/09 Missing)
BlogTO 3/8/09: Andrew Gillies and Alan Van Sprang (Ray Larkin in "Inferno")
Factory Theatre proudly presents the WORLD PREMIERE MISSING
written by Florence Gibson
directed by David Ferry
Mar 8 to Apr 5
$15 - $37
Tuesday-Saturday, 8 p.m.
Sunday, 2 p.m.
(Sunday, March 8, preview at 7 pm)
Dora and Chalmers Award-winning playwright Florence Gibson (BELLE, 2000, and HOME IS MY ROAD, 2003) returns to Factory Theatre with the world premiere of MISSING. Artistic Director Ken Gass is once again thrilled to produce a new play by Florence Gibson, “whose rich, poetic voice is unique in the Canadian canon.” Directed by David Ferry and featuring a “Who’s Who” of Canadian theatre artists, MISSING is a complex mystery of identity set in rural Ontario, 1974. A woman has disappeared and O.P.P. Detective Carol Seaforth has to crack the case in order to move up in the ranks. Was Evelyn MacMillan abducted? Was she running to escape her life, or did she simply vanish? And, if so, why? The lines begin to blur as Officer Seaforth investigates the contradictions in Evelyn’s life while her own marriage begins to fall apart. MISSING, winner of the 2005 Herman Voaden National Playwriting Award, previews March 8 (International Women’s Day), 10 and 11, officially opens on March 12 and closes April 5. Visit http://factorytheatre.ca/missing.htm and Ferry’s blog at http://missing-factorytheatre.blogspot.com.
The 1970’s come alive with set and costume design by Gillian Gallow, sound design by Christopher Stanton, and lighting design by Glenn Davidson. MISSING is Davidson’s and Ferry’s 20th collaboration. The show also features original music and vocals by Jody Richardson with lyrics by Florence Gibson. Playing the role of “Freddy” is Guy Bannerman, a 50-year theatre veteran (returning to the Shaw Festival in April for his 22nd season, and, in the fall, is reprising his role in Stuff Happens, Studio 180 Theatre/Mirvish Productions). Joining him is Shauna Black as “Elaine” (five seasons with the Shaw Festival; recent graduate of the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Training, Stratford Festival), Andrew Gillies as “Ian” (Neptune’s The Devil’s Disciple; Studio 180 Theatre’s Stuff Happens), Kyra Harper as “Janine” (Actors Repertory Company’s 36 Views; MTC/Mirvish’s Medea; CTV/Sullivan Film’s Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning), Fiona Highet as “Carol Seaforth” (Factory’s End of Civilization; Tarragon’s Bea’s Niece), and Emma Hillier as “Michelle” (Touring Players’ New Canadian Kid; Shaw Festival’s Cavalcade). After a 12-year hiatus from theatre, Alan Van Sprang will play the male lead, “Trevor MacMillan,” (Sir Francis Bryan on Showtime’s The Tudors; Paramount Pictures’ NARC; Alliance Atlantis’s Earth: Final Conflict). The Stage Manager is Sherry Roher, with assistance from apprentice Natalie Gisele. The Assistant Lighting Designer is Raha Javanfar.
Adapting her 2001 CBC radio play, MISSING YOU, (LOVE), has been a labour of love for Gibson, a medical doctor turned playwright. The story was inspired by Lois Hanna, who went missing from her home in Kincardine, Ontario in 1988 (http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com). MISSING’s Dramaturge/Director David Ferry says, “Many drafts and workshops later, I have to say Florence is one of the most intelligent and professional writers I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. She has inspired me to discover a whole new dramaturgical language. For a male dramaturge working with a female author, I had to unlearn a dramaturgical language routed in a predominantly masculine culture and learn something different, perhaps something less linear and more circular.” Gibson adds, “Translation to the stage is a difficult process. The landscape of theatre is the actor. The playwright and the director have to learn to work through them. Collaboration is about working together freely, fiercely and passionately. This play is stronger because of this process.”
Factory Theatre offers a wide variety of ticket and Pass prices for all budgets, and convenience in purchasing online, in person or by phone. Passes for the shows range from $69 - $125, tickets are $15 - $37; Tuesday-Saturday, 8 p.m., and Sunday, 2 p.m., with the exception of the Sunday, March 8 preview at 7 p.m.
Factory Theatre
125 Bathurst Street (at Adelaide)
Box Office: 416-504-9971
© BlogTO
Excerpt from Mondo Magazine 3/17/09: Andrew Gillies
Missing in Review
Posted by art On March - 17 - 2009
Missing
By Florence Gibson
Directed by David Ferry
Featuring Fiona Highet, Alan Van Sprang, Kyra Harper, Shauna Black, Andrew Gillies, Guy Bannerman, Emma Hillier
Runs until April 5, 2009 @ Factory Theatre
Dora and Chalmers Award-winning playwright Florence Gibson’s new play, Missing, is, in the words of Factory Theatre Artistic Director Ken Gass, “a theatrical puzzle… predicated on the theme of identity, a recurring Canadian preoccupation.” I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Missing reflects on the changing landscape and identity of rural Ontario, the search for meaning of two profoundly unhappy women, and the possibility of fully realizing oneself whatever life’s circumstances may be. The result is a moving and intriguing work, deftly written and skillfully acted: a truly enjoyable show at an important Canadian institution.
Detective Carol Seaforth (Fiona Highet) of the OPP is sent to investigate the disappearance of Evelyn MacMillan from a small farm town in Ontario. It is unclear what exactly happened to Evelyn. Speculation about murder, insanity, and abandonment abound. The cast of characters she encounters perfectly encapsulates the feeling of a small, cloistered town: Trevor MacMillan (Alan Van Sprang), Evelyn’s husband and a quiet, angry farmer; Janine (Kyra Harper), the chatty proprietor of Janine’s Diner; Freddy (Guy Bannerman), the slow but knowing gas attendant at Janine’s; Michelle (Emma Hillier), the MacMillan daughter - each character has his or her own ideas about exactly why Evelyn left, and each eventually leads Detective Seaforth to realizations about her own life and marriage.
As Seaforth, Fiona Highet epitomizes the hard-nosed, caustic attitude of a woman who has had to work every day in her field for any modicum of respect. It’s exactly this attitude that draws her to Trevor MacMillan, and causes her to critically evaluate what she wants in her life. Seaforth and her husband, a schoolteacher named Ian (played with emotional intensity by Andrew Gillies) are trying to get pregnant with no success. As the case progresses, Seaforth’s marriage disintegrates as she realizes that she does not love Ian. Highet and Gillies have excellent stage chemistry, and the emotional investment in their fights was intense.
© Mondo Magazine